http://beeradvocate.com/news/stories_read/698

There are so many American IPAs in the market, and outside of
trustworthy standards like Harpoon IPA and Sierra Nevada, few stand
out. Those that do tend to be hot-hop-bomb Double IPAs whose sole
intention is to destroy your palate and a few million brain cells.

However, back in early 2004, Dann Paquette, former head brewer of The
Tap brewpub (at Haverhill Brewery), created something truly awesome:
Leatherlips IPA, a highly drinkable IPA with a moderate alcohol
content (5 percent ABV) and a tremendous amount of hop character.

Paquette eventually moved on to brew in England, but thankfully, Steve
Bernard stepped in as head brewer and continued brewing our beloved
Leatherlips. Bernard took things to the next level when Haverhill
Brewery added a bottling line and distribution to their business; and
soon after, he began bottling this hopped-up brew.

The Taste
Leatherlips IPA (bottled) from The Tap / Haverhill BreweryOut of the
12-ounce brown bottle, Leatherlips pours a deep and vibrant golden
color that offers up a beautiful clarity-prompting us to leave the
sediment at the bottom of the bottle. A good two fingers of head
pillow up from a hard pour. Soon after, the scent of hops permeates
the nostrils. An old-school aroma of high alpha hops reveals this as
an IPA before the first sip: pungent, citric and floral all over the
place. Hints of lightly toasted grain in the nose as well. Its smooth
mouthfeel and moderate body earn drinkability points. Mild biscuity
malt, fruitiness and some yeast up front. This all gets wiped away by
a wall of hops-first the sting of bitterness and then a long-lingering
herbal and citric finish.

Final Thoughts
Loaded with Centennial, Nugget and Chinook hops, Leatherlips IPA is
without a doubt a hophead's fix, certainly one of those beers we'll
frequently return to. Pair this with spicy food-the more heat the
better. A bowl of chili is the obvious choice, but a hot pot of green
curry and scallops over jasmine rice is even better.

Leatherlips IPA is available now in the Boston area for around $8 per
six-pack, and it's always on tap or available to-go by the growler at
The Tap. (By the way, the commuter rail to Haverhill drops you off
literally across the street from the place.) And if you're lucky, you
might even find Leatherlips on cask-like we did at Deep Ellum (477
Cambridge St., Allston).

For more info: tapbrewpub.com

Respect Beer.

[ Update: BeerAdvocate has learned that as of April 1, 2007, Steve
Bernard is moving on. The Tap is currently looking for a new head
brewer. ]

> wrote in message
oups.com...
> http://beeradvocate.com/news/stories_read/698
>
> There are so many American IPAs in the market, and outside of
> trustworthy standards like Harpoon IPA and Sierra Nevada, few stand
> out.

You lost all credibility with that statement. No need to bother with the
rest of the story.

Blake S wrote:
> > wrote in message
> oups.com...
>> http://beeradvocate.com/news/stories_read/698
>>
>> There are so many American IPAs in the market, and outside of
>> trustworthy standards like Harpoon IPA and Sierra Nevada, few stand
>> out.
>
> You lost all credibility with that statement. No need to bother with the
> rest of the story.

That's the problem with these reviews in general. They read like they came from
a marketing department.

Tom W

"Joel" > wrote in message
...
> Tom Wolper > wrote:
>>Blake S wrote:
>>> > wrote in message
>>> oups.com...
>>>> http://beeradvocate.com/news/stories_read/698
>>>>
>>>> There are so many American IPAs in the market, and outside of
>>>> trustworthy standards like Harpoon IPA and Sierra Nevada, few stand
>>>> out.
>>>
>>> You lost all credibility with that statement. No need to bother with
>>> the
>>> rest of the story.
>>
>>That's the problem with these reviews in general. They read like they came
>>from
>>a marketing department.
>
> That's all they are-- ads for a lame website.

Hey. I'm a BA and I have a lot of fun on that website.



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On Feb 20, 1:04 pm, "Blake S" > wrote:
> > wrote in message
>
> oups.com...
>
> >http://beeradvocate.com/news/stories_read/698
>
> > There are so many American IPAs in the market, and outside of
> > trustworthy standards like Harpoon IPA and Sierra Nevada, few stand
> > out.
>
> You lost all credibility with that statement. No need to bother with the
> rest of the story.

Yeah. Sierra Nevada's IPA (unless their CA is what is meant to be
referred to above) is newish and not too well-known, and Harpoon's IPA
hardly stands out (it tastes like a pale ale to me). Anchor Liberty
would have been a better example -- though it's pretty tame compared
to many of today's IPAs.

"Bill Becker" > schreef in bericht
...
>
> "Joel" > wrote in message
> ...
>> Tom Wolper > wrote:
>>>Blake S wrote:
>>>> > wrote in message
>>>> oups.com...
>>>>> http://beeradvocate.com/news/stories_read/698
>>
[snip]

>> That's all they are-- ads for a lame website.
>
> Hey. I'm a BA and I have a lot of fun on that website.
>
>
Good for you, have fun. But this is spam, all the same.

In alt.beer Joel > wrote:
....

> That's all they are-- ads for a lame website.

Your just jealos giggy what have you done for beer today?

sleurB kciN > wrote:
>In alt.beer Joel > wrote:
>> That's all they are-- ads for a lame website.
>
>Your just jealos giggy what have you done for beer today?

Disrespected it most egregiously. You?
--
Joel Plutchak "Ignorance more frequently begets confidence
.. at VERYWARMmail.com than does knowledge." - Charles Darwin

"Joel" > wrote in message
...
> Bill Becker > wrote:
>>"Joel" > wrote in message
>>> That's all they are-- ads for a lame website.
>>
>>Hey. I'm a BA and I have a lot of fun on that website.
>
> Just don't say something the gestapo brothers (or wifey)
> don't like. They'll take their baseball, send you packing,
> and erase all evidence you ever existed there.

I like having the best of both worlds.
A nicely moderated website where the noise levels are held to a minimum and
yeah, I've posted stuff that was deleted. I didn't think that it was such a
big deal..
And then there's the wild west atmosphere of a Usenet group like this where
everything goes. ;^)




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"Blake S" > wrote in message
news
> > You lost all credibility with that statement. No need to bother with
> > the
> rest of the story.
>

Blake, I don't disagree with you.
So, what available IPAs would you recommend?

I liked the Masala Mama and the Dogfish Head 60. Widmer Halo is not bad.

I enjoyed the Hopzilla by Bert Grant, but after Mr Grant died, evidently
Greg Tranum F'd up the company.

On Feb 21, 10:48 pm, "Justin Wilson" > wrote:
> "Blake S" > wrote in message
>
> news >
> > > You lost all credibility with that statement. No need to bother with
> > > the
> > rest of the story.
>
> Blake, I don't disagree with you.
> So, what available IPAs would you recommend?
>
> I liked the Masala Mama and the Dogfish Head 60. Widmer Halo is not bad.
>
> I enjoyed the Hopzilla by Bert Grant, but after Mr Grant died, evidently
> Greg Tranum F'd up the company.

I haven't seen any of the Grant's beers in a few years. Are they
still made?

On 2/22/2007 8:56 AM Kyle fell asleep at the keyboard, and awoke to find
this:

> On Feb 21, 10:48 pm, "Justin Wilson" > wrote:
>
>>I enjoyed the Hopzilla by Bert Grant, but after Mr Grant died, evidently
>>Greg Tranum F'd up the company.
>
>
> I haven't seen any of the Grant's beers in a few years. Are they
> still made?

No. There were supposedly plans to have them contract-brewed, but
there's precious little evidence of that. The losers who took over
Grant's should be sold into slavery for what they did to that once-
proud pioneering craft brewery.
--
dgs

"Justin Wilson" > wrote in message
...
>
> "Blake S" > wrote in message
> news
>> > You lost all credibility with that statement. No need to bother with
>> > the
>> rest of the story.
>>
>
> Blake, I don't disagree with you.
> So, what available IPAs would you recommend?
>
> I liked the Masala Mama and the Dogfish Head 60. Widmer Halo is not bad.
>
> I enjoyed the Hopzilla by Bert Grant, but after Mr Grant died, evidently
> Greg Tranum F'd up the company.
>
>

I really don't know where to start......just off the top of my head I would
say the following are exceptional:

Pelican IPA
Stone IPA
Alesmith IPA
La Conner IPA
Big Time IPA (Seattle)
Bridgeport IPA
Diamond Knot IPA
Boundary Bay IPA
Steelhead IPA (not the Mad River one)
Roots IPA
Bell's IPA (I think it's called "Two Hearted")
Avery IPA
He'Brew IPA
Terminal Gravity IPA
Dogfish Head 90 minute

The list goes on and on. To suggest that Sierra Nevada IPA and Harpoon
stand out is ridiculous. They are both decent beers, however.

Oh yeah, Diamond Knot is my favorite IPA, next to Masala Mama.



"Blake S" > wrote in message
nk.net...
>
> "Justin Wilson" > wrote in message
> ...
>>
>> "Blake S" > wrote in message
>> news
>>> > You lost all credibility with that statement. No need to bother with
>>> > the
>>> rest of the story.
>>>
>>
>> Blake, I don't disagree with you.
>> So, what available IPAs would you recommend?
>>
>> I liked the Masala Mama and the Dogfish Head 60. Widmer Halo is not bad.
>>
>> I enjoyed the Hopzilla by Bert Grant, but after Mr Grant died, evidently
>> Greg Tranum F'd up the company.
>>
>>
>
> I really don't know where to start......just off the top of my head I
> would say the following are exceptional:
>
> Pelican IPA
> Stone IPA
> Alesmith IPA
> La Conner IPA
> Big Time IPA (Seattle)
> Bridgeport IPA
> Diamond Knot IPA
> Boundary Bay IPA
> Steelhead IPA (not the Mad River one)
> Roots IPA
> Bell's IPA (I think it's called "Two Hearted")
> Avery IPA
> He'Brew IPA
> Terminal Gravity IPA
> Dogfish Head 90 minute
>
> The list goes on and on. To suggest that Sierra Nevada IPA and Harpoon
> stand out is ridiculous. They are both decent beers, however.
>

In rec.food.drink.beer Bill Becker > wrote:
:
: "Joel" > wrote in message
: ...
:> Tom Wolper > wrote:
:>>Blake S wrote:
:>>> > wrote in message
:>>> oups.com...
:>>>> http://beeradvocate.com/news/stories_read/698
:>>>>
:>>>> There are so many American IPAs in the market, and outside of
:>>>> trustworthy standards like Harpoon IPA and Sierra Nevada, few stand
:>>>> out.
:>>>
:>>> You lost all credibility with that statement. No need to bother with
:>>> the
:>>> rest of the story.
:>>
:>>That's the problem with these reviews in general. They read like they came
:>>from
:>>a marketing department.
:>
:> That's all they are-- ads for a lame website.
:
: Hey. I'm a BA and I have a lot of fun on that website.
:

Likewise. BA goes way beyond being a virtual forum. I have met and
gone drinking, pubcrawling, etc. with several BAs including both of the
brothers who decided to host a BA pubcrawl as part of the Stone 10th
anniversary weekend.

We had a great time.

The web site ain't perfect but if Tom thinks BA is lame then I can't
help but wonder what he thinks of this group and why he's here. There
is plenty of high quality content on BA that has been written over the
years by individual members. And if you're planning a trip to unknown
locales, Beerfly is a very good resource.

The one issue that came to light recently is that of "Beermail" being
read by admins. I think that a lot of people just sort of assumed that
"beermail" is like email -- private communication between individuals
with that privacy respected by the site admins. It is apparently not
so and this seems to have some folks ****ed off. I've never used
beermail for anything beyond the most trivial communication so I really
don't have a problem with this personally -- I understand that they're
doing this and it influences how I will use that feature in the future.
(Can you say "What's your email addy?" -- I knew you could!) and makes
me feel very good about how restrained I've been with it in the past
when I was unaware of this behavior by the admins.

--
Bill
AT DOT
reply to bbenzel adelphia net

Bill Benzel wrote:
>
> The web site ain't perfect but if Tom thinks BA is lame then I can't
> help but wonder what he thinks of this group and why he's here.

To set the record straight, I'm not the one who called BA lame. I use Beerfly as
a resource when I travel and I look up beers there when something new comes out
on draft and the waitress has no idea who brews it or where the brewery is.

The articles/reviews that were posted here aren't like the reviews we post or
get posted usually on BA. The usual reviews are personal impressions of a beer
and its attributes. The reviews BA posted read like a marketing department's
copy and gave no insight into any of the beers. That's what I objected to.

Tom W

In rec.food.drink.beer Tom Wolper > wrote:
: Bill Benzel wrote:
:>
:> The web site ain't perfect but if Tom thinks BA is lame then I can't
:> help but wonder what he thinks of this group and why he's here.
:
: To set the record straight, I'm not the one who called BA lame. I use Beerfly as
: a resource when I travel and I look up beers there when something new comes out
: on draft and the waitress has no idea who brews it or where the brewery is.

Sorry 'bout that -- I pulled the wrong name out of the damn cascade!!
No offense meant.

:
: The articles/reviews that were posted here aren't like the reviews we post or
: get posted usually on BA. The usual reviews are personal impressions of a beer
: and its attributes. The reviews BA posted read like a marketing department's
: copy and gave no insight into any of the beers. That's what I objected to.
:
: Tom W

I don't get that either. The strange thing about those posts was that
there is no .sig or URL pointing to BA at the end of any of them.

I can't help but wonder who posted them but


--
Bill
AT DOT
reply to bbenzel adelphia net

Bill Benzel wrote:
>
> :
> : The articles/reviews that were posted here aren't like the reviews we post or
> : get posted usually on BA. The usual reviews are personal impressions of a beer
> : and its attributes. The reviews BA posted read like a marketing department's
> : copy and gave no insight into any of the beers. That's what I objected to.
>
> I don't get that either. The strange thing about those posts was that
> there is no .sig or URL pointing to BA at the end of any of them.
>
> I can't help but wonder who posted them but

I should have picked up on that. The Alstroms sign their posts and whoever
posted those "reviews" didn't.

-Tom W

In article <Yg0Eh.280$854.136@trnddc04>, Tom Wolper >
wrote:

> Bill Benzel wrote:
> >
> > :
> > : The articles/reviews that were posted here aren't like the reviews we
> > : post or
> > : get posted usually on BA. The usual reviews are personal impressions of a
> > : beer
> > : and its attributes. The reviews BA posted read like a marketing
> > : department's
> > : copy and gave no insight into any of the beers. That's what I objected
> > : to.
> >
> > I don't get that either. The strange thing about those posts was that
> > there is no .sig or URL pointing to BA at the end of any of them.
> >
> > I can't help but wonder who posted them but
>
> I should have picked up on that. The Alstroms sign their posts and whoever
> posted those "reviews" didn't.
>
> -Tom W

I don't know who posted that set of reviews, but they were written by
the Alstroms. The one for Leatherlips started with the link
<http://beeradvocate.com/news/stories_read/698> which goes to the copy
of the review on the site and which was originally published in the
Boston Dig, a weekly the Alstroms have a regular column in. The
Leatherlips review is a typical example of their weekly column.

Mark

--
Mark Irwin
http://www.stat.harvard.edu/~irwin